'Master Tailors' Spent Weeks Preparing Pope Francis' Robe

The outfit Jorge Mario Bergoglio wore for
his unveiling as Pope took weeks of preparation.

The new Pope Francis walked out onto the Vatican balcony wearing
the "traditional garments of a
floor-length white wool cassock, a white sash, and a white
skullcap," according to a
New York Times article.

The outfit was
prepared by Gammarelli, the tailoring company that has dressed
the Pope since the 1700s. The company got to work after Pope
Benedict announced his resignation.

"The master
cutters and tailors have gone about making three sets of papal
garments, in sizes small, medium and large....none of the likely
current candidates, as it happens, is any heftier than that,"
writes Guy Trebay
at the Times. "Pope John XXIII,
who died in 1963, was the last pontiff to wear an XL."

Pope Francis
chose not to wear the scarlet mozzetta, which Pope Benedict wore
at his anointing.

The new Pope
has already proved himself to be less fashionable than Pope
Benedict. Kenzie Bryant at Racked, a
fashion blog, commented
on his "transition-lensed, rounded
glasses."